Time for a ‘gap year’!

It’s time for a gap year! Ok true, this usually pertains to a recent high school grad that needs some time off to find themselves before college, but I am going to take the liberty of using that term for my forty-something, midlife crisis style, upcoming adventure. I didn’t have time for any pre-college adventures because I was already a mom way before college came around. So I told myself that when the kids were grown then I would get my chance to travel and do whatever I wanted. Well, my youngest son will be twenty this year and is currently spending his fifth week in Europe, so he is obviously ready to be on his own!
It’s a great time for me to go anyway. My husband and myself are totally fed up with our jobs. We both spend a fairly large amount of time each week sitting in the hot tub, drinking beer and contemplating our next career or, more specifically, how to exit the career path we are currently on! So I figure if we are quitting anyway, why not take a trip? With all the kids gone we need a smaller house too, so hey, why not sell it and then take our time finding a new one? So, no job, no house, no kids, guess what that means? All the time in the world!
So we are planning our exit from the corporate rat race, selling our worldly possessions and getting ready to list the house. We figure it will take four months to get it ready (we are in the middle of a bathroom renovation) and then we will list it. Hopefully it sells fairly quickly and we can escape before the snow flies! I’m thinking we will go for six months to start and then take it from there.
The final piece of the puzzle is how to earn a little expense money on the side while we travel. There are a few possible portable incomes so I will give you an update in my next blog on what I am finding out.
Meanwhile, I would love to hear from anyone who has done this and get some words of wisdom around what to plan for and what you wish you would have thought of doing before you left! Mostly, I am just looking for some encouragement that it can be done without going broke!